Pelicans Fall 2-1 for Second-Straight Night against Wood Ducks

By Sam Weiderhaft

The Birds left 10 runners on base, the second-most this season

In another low-scoring battle, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans dropped the second game of the series by the final of 2-1 to the Down East Wood Ducks. With the loss, the Birds drop to 21-28 on the season, with a 7-12 home record. The Wood Ducks improve to 29-20 and now have a Low-A East-leading 19th road victory.

Unlike last night, Myrtle Beach racked up eight hits for the game with three players collecting multiple hits. Ed Howard (2-5) and Yohendrick Pinango (2-4, 2B) both had solid games while Ethan Hearn (2-3, HR, RBI) provided the only offense for the Pelicans all game with a solo home run in the seventh for his first of the year.

The Myrtle Beach pitching staff came together for 16 strikeouts for the game, led by starter DJ Herz who had eight punchouts through his five innings of work. The loss went to Bailey Reid (2-4) after allowing the final run to cross the plate on a throwing error by the catcher Hearn.

With only four hits, the Wood Ducks still managed to win the ballgame. Thomas Saggese (1-4, HR) went deep for his fourth homer of the year, while Jayce Easley (0-1, 3 BB) drew three walks while also stealing two bases and scoring the go-ahead run in the eighth.

The win went to Teodoro Ortega (2-0) after tossing an inning in relief with one hit and one strikeout. Wyatt Sparks started the game and went five scoreless innings with three hits allowed and four strikeouts.

In almost an exact replica of last night, the Wood Ducks got on the board first with a single run in the third inning. Saggese led off the inning by taking Herz deep to left field on a 2-1 pitch to give Down East an early 1-0 lead.

The Pelicans saw chances come and go, including leaving two runners on in both the fifth and the sixth innings with nothing to show for it. Howard led off the sixth with a single and Pinango followed with a double into the corner in left field to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Mervis then hit a one-hopper to Saggese at second and was thrown out at first, while Pinango was caught too far off the second base bag and was tagged out in a rundown between second and third for a double play. Ryan Reynolds walked to put runners on the corners, and Jonathan Sierra flew out to left field as Osuna made the catch while falling over the wall in foul territory and hanging on.

The Birds’ first run came in the seventh as Hearn stepped up with two outs in the inning. With an 0-2 count, Hearn powered the pitch to the top of the left-field deck for his first homer of the season and the game was tied 1-1.

Down East would take the lead back in the next half-inning. Easley walked to lead off the inning and stole second base in the next at-bat. As Luisangel Acuna was caught looking for a strikeout, Easley swiped third base as Hearn threw down. The throw missed Verdugo’s glove at third and skipped into the outfield, allowing Easly to come home easily and score the go-ahead run as the visitors went up 2-1.

The Pelicans once again put the tying run aboard in the ninth inning with Hearn leading off with a walk. The next three batters were retired to stand the tying run and end the game.

Myrtle Beach and Down East will play game three on Thursday at 7:05 p.m.